Every Day You Have A Choice. Make It Count.

Unmeasured Strength is Lauren Manning’s memoir chronicling her remarkable journey out of the fires of 9/11, with a universal message for all of us who have ever encountered defeat, illness, injury, loss: no matter how difficult life’s challenges, we have inside us the power to prevail. Laugh, cry, and triumph, as you share Lauren’s story.

Recent News

Anytime you get quoted by a standing president as the model of resilience of the American people it's a good day. This from a Major Policy Speech Obama gave recently:

"In just these last few years as President, I have watched the American people bounce back from painful recession, mass shootings, and natural disasters … These events were heartbreaking; they shook our communities to the core. But because of the resilience of the American people, these events could not come close to breaking us. I think of Lauren Manning, the 9/11 survivor who had severe burns over 80 percent of her body, who said, ‘That’s my reality. I put a Band-Aid on it, literally, and I move on.’"

–President Barack Obama

What People are Saying

“Unmeasured Strength is both an enduring story about the resilience of character and an ode to the human determination to defeat evil. Lauren Manning did what the mighty Greek Sisyphus could never do: push the boulder to the top of the hill and never let it roll down. She has written a brilliantly vivid, wholly empowering tour de force that makes the impossible seem possible; her inspiring example just may teach us how to reverse our fates.”

Lucinda Franks, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, author of My Father’s Secret War

“An international symbol of hope and courage.”

New York Times

“Unmeasured Strength is a gripping tale of [Lauren Manning’s] long fight back from a devastating injury that easily could have killed her… She has valuable lessons to impart about the personal challenges of overcoming physical and emotional adversity.”

Every Day You Have a Choice. Make it Count.
When I first uttered these words, it was to myself as I waited to be fed. My hands lay spent and useless from the morning’s therapy and would remain strapped into splints, immobile, until the following day. I had 45 minutes to eat and rest before resuming my afternoon grind of physical therapy.
I was committed to moving forward, but at that moment I felt infinite helplessness, compounded by the forlorn view through the small hospital window onto a bleak meadow where matted yellow winter grass poked through the sparse snow cover in intermittent clumps beneath a leaden gray sky. It was January of 2002 and by then, I had been in the “Big House,” as I called the hospitals, for over three months. Those six months of institutional care and rehab merely started the nearly decade long trench warfare to recover from the catastrophic injury I’d sustained on 9/11.
It was easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormity and the pressure of how far I still had to go. The gray steel, chain-linked security fence bordering the meadow and separating the hospital grounds from the world beyond offered a stark reminder of the prison my body had become. I felt a pang of barren loneliness; and then, as if in answer, the words came to my mind.
Every Day You Have a Choice. Make it Count.
Those words became my mantra, the expression of my commitment toward the rebuilding of my very uncertain future. Repeating and sharing that simple phrase with friends and others would prove reparative long past those difficult early days.
The terrorist attack had left me with an 82.5% total body burn. So replete was the injury that people came to me curiously unarmored and vulnerable, volunteering truthfully their own fears, doubts, failings and hopes. Perhaps it was because they saw in me someone so utterly compromised that they felt no prideful threat. But whatever their motivation, the inevitable result was a mutually beneficial catharsis, and I treasured the bonds we formed.
Recently, I sat down with Sallie Krawcheck for a panel on resilience with two other women, Deborah Norville and Jennifer Gilbert. All of us had endured a unique suffering. But whether emotional or physical or both, one message was clear during that discussion: each of these women had enormous strength and had used it to change course when circumstances were most difficult. As I wrote in my memoir, Unmeasured Strength, the ability to let that which wounds you become part of who you are without conquering who frees you to devote your greatest energies to moving forward. Moving from acceptance to action is how you may draw on your won Unmeasured Strength, and this was powerfully evident in this panel.
There are many women’s networks, but I think that Sallie Krawcheck’s Ellevate is all about what we need most; to be resilient. Krawcheck recently acquired and reinvigorated the legacy Wall Street women’s club 85 Broads, transforming it into Ellevate, a fast-growing network with over 30,000 members.
Many of you may remember Sallie Krawcheck as the CFO at Citibank who, after a nasty break-up with her firm, found herself out of a job. She has brought her extensive experience to her new gig and provided a living example of resilience. Dedicated to serving the needs of women, Ellevate calls women to action, to invest in themselves and one another.
“I knew I would get fired,” Sallie said of her departure from Citibank back in 2008. Yet with all the drama with which that episode was fraught, it seems to have been a good thing. Krawcheck is betting not only on tapping women’s needs to help one another more effectively, but the fund she started, Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Index Fund, is “the only mutual fund that invests in the top-rated companies in the world for advancing women." Coming from Wall Street, I know well the reward for crisp, clear and economical use of words and I find solidarity in Krawcheck’s call to action.
We all have the power to change the course of our lives, and the future is ours for the taking.
Every Day You Have a Choice. Make it Count....

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

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A portion of the proceeds from Unmeasured Strength go to Young Women's Leadership Network, iPads For Soldiers, and Sanctuary for Families. Please join me in supporting these these extraordinary organizations.

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MESSAGES TO LAUREN

Just finished your amazing book Unmeasured Strength. I am so happy that you made it through this terrible event in your life. I have a daughter who suffers terribly from the disease of depression. She has a very difficult time getting from day to day with her illness. So much of your writing (albeit in different circumstances) must surely be an inspiration to many. I intend to present your book to my daughter to read in the hope and (prayer) that she will be inspired by your never giving up and will to live. Thank you for writing this book.

Blessings to you and your family

Lauren, I read your book yesterday. You are the most inspirational woman I know. And I say “I know” because after reading Unmeasured Strength yesterday, I feel that with your candor, and your honesty, I do “know” you. While you probably think that you only did what you had to do for your son, you showed MORE strength and determination than any of us other moms could ever muster. I will continue to think of your journey often, and when the minor glitches in my day seem insurmountable, I will get inspiration from you, as will so many other women.

Fondly, Robin

Dear, dear Lauren. You have expressed the strength, courage and tenacity that are at the heart of the true pioneering American spirit. So profoundly you say: “we all have pain, struggles and problems to overcome “. Yet, looking around we seem to be overloaded with media continually reinforcing and campaigning that we are victims, rather than a blessed people capable of heroic acts of good. In your calm and knowing voice you speak to remind us who we are in our souls, and what really defines us. This strength is in each of us, and it is as you say so well, a CHOICE. You reflect your deep beauty and clarity for life in all you have said and done.
Please speak out more often.

With deepest Respect, Jill

Lauren: Every year in September I read Love, Greg and Lauren. Your story of recovery, love and faith never ceases to inspire me. I want to thank you for writing a follow-up and for allowing all of us to have a glimpse of your tremendous recovery as you reclaim your life. I appreciate your humility and your incredible strength. I wish you and your lovely family the best. Stay strong and stay well!

ABOUT LAUREN MANNING

Lauren Manning is a former Managing Director and Partner at Cantor Fitzgerald, where she ran the Global Market Data division. Her battle to survive catastrophic burns suffered in the September 11th attacks has been extensively chronicled in the media around the world, including featured appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The NBC Today Show, and CNN, the front page of The New York Times, Readers Digest, and a cover-featured excerpt in Vogue Magazine. Read more...